Aftershock
by ArmachiA
Summary: Set after the 7th book, the trio packes up and goes to college, thinking that the darkest days are behind them... or are they? Someone is continuing the work of the Dark Lord at their school, will they be able to find out who it is?
1. Begining Anew

A/N: This is fist attempt at posting a Harry Potter fanfiction. I decided to do one because a lot of HP Fanfics around the web don't seem to stay true to the characters. I don't know, maybe they want to change who they are, but I like them the way they are just fine. This story is about the Trio going to college. I don't know if JKR believes there are college's in the Harry Potter world, but I do so I'm writing about it. It shoud be noted that I think the following will happen in JKR's books:

Hermione and Ron will "get together" (We all know it's going to happen… even if some of us are hoping for another person for Hermione… some of us being me.) Harry will defeat Voldemort (Duh…) Draco becomes uber-evil and/or a Death Eater (Though I should note that I do not want this to happen! Draco is one of my favorite characters and I hope JKR will give him some emotion eventually. He's like the Grinch, his heart just two sizes two small right now LOL) 

So basically it starts off as a happy go lucky fic about them going to college, but it does get darker as the chapters continue (Keeping in with the spirit of JKR's writing style… I admire her very much). So I hope you like it and here we go!

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Chapter 1: Beginning Anew (Harry)

  


Harry Potter, the boy known the world over as The Boy who lived and the one who defeated He-who-must-not-be-named, looked at his small dorm room with a big grin on his face. Now 18 and finally able to move out of the Dursely's, he had never felt happier than he had in this moment. He threw his bags down on the bed and walked down the hallway toward the stairs, where Ron Weasely was waiting for him with a bored expression on his face. Ron's hair was now in a cropped cut and had a lot of goo in it, Harry guessed he was trying to look cool for his first day at college, but really he looked like he had fell into a vat of oil head first. He and Ron had drove up here together from the Burrow, and both were excited about the new adventure they were facing. 

"Did you find it Harry?" Ron asked him, and he nodded in reply. With that, Ron jumped up and ran down the stairs so fast that Harry barely could keep up. It was rather obvious that Ron was happy to be off on his own and away from the crowded family he had grown up with. Harry slowed his pace and began dodging the massive amounts of people on the first floor. Everyone looked a lot older than he was, which intimidated him a bit. It had been a long time since he was at the bottom of the barrel after all. When he finally got outside, he spotted Ron pulling luggage from the car they had driven here. A lot of people didn't have cars at this place, most people had found rather interesting ways to get there, but Harry really liked his car, he had bought it off of a Wizard near his home over the summer. One of the many perks of finally being free from Privet Drive. 

"Harry, this year is going to be good," Ron beamed as he pulled out a few trunks with his name on them, "I can tell, you know. With You-Know-Who gone, all he have to worry about are if we get to class on time and if we pass the finals." 

" I suppose it will be Ron," Harry laughed and looked at the school. It wasn't much bigger than Hogwart's, but it look a lot more ominous. The walls were straight and squared, contrary to the softer curves of the Hogwart's castle. Each of the Dormitories were separated from the large school, all seven formed a perfect circle around it, and it seemed to Harry it was going to be difficult to get to some classes. Just like Hogwart's though, it was out in the middle of nowhere, but by looking at the parking lot and library it looked almost as though it would fit right in a bigger city. 

"You think Hermione is here yet?" Ron asked, his ears turning a very bright pink. Hermione and Ron had a very strange relationship indeed, no one was really sure if they were dating, but it was clear that they were off limits to the dating world. Seemed they only had eyes for each other, even if they didn't want to admit it.

"I don't know, I got an owl from her saying she was taking the subway in," Harry shrugged and pulled Hedwig's cage out of the backseat.

"What dormitory do you think she picked?" Ron looked around the small parking lot, probably hoping that Hermione would suddenly appear.

"Most likely the Rosewand dorm, it's for girls only." Harry smiled, "I highly doubt that she would want to live with us in the Boy's and Girl's Dormitories." 

"Yeah, I can hear her now about how unclean it all is." Ron laughed a little bit and shook his head, "Still, it would have been nice if we were all in the same dorm. It would be just like old times. All of us in Gryffindor." 

"Except we're not in Gryffindor anymore, we're in," Harry looked at the big sign that was sitting over the even bigger wooden door, "Pheowin." 

"Okay then, Ron smiled, "All of us in Pheowin." 

Harry laughed and grabbed all the luggage he could and began to go back into the dormitory. Ron was right behind him with the rest of the stuff, trying to keep up even though Pigwidgeon, his owl, was making such a fuss in it's cage he nearly dropped it as he opened the door. Once you walked into the Dormitory, there was a big area that looked very much like the Gryffindor common room, including all the decorations being deep red and gold. People were laughing and talking, or playing a game of wizard chess, some were even showing off their broomsticks to each other (Which made Harry want to be a part of that conversation very much). When they got to the stairs however, a giant picture of a Phoenix was standing in their way, eyeing them both suspiciously.

"Berty Bott's," Harry told the picture and it quickly slide out of the way so they could walk up the stairs and to their dorm room on the second floor. The Dormitory was spilt right down the middle, if you went right you were on the boy's side, and on the left was the girl's. So each floor had many people of different sexes trying to find out where they were being placed. Harry noticed a lot of rather attractive girls looking his way. When he made eye contact with one, they all began to giggle and walked back into their room. Harry just smiled and began to walk down the right hallway and into the room him and Ron were going to share for the year.

"This is so wicked Harry." Ron said excitedly as he walked into the room, "Me and you are going to be roommates." 

"Should be an interesting year." Harry murmured to himself with a smile and walked over to the window that was resting between the two beds. The room was about half the size of the one they had gotten used to in Hogwart's, but it was still very nice. It was decorated in the same Red and Gold they were used too and had the four poster beds as well. Ron began having a look around before putting the luggage he was carrying down. That caused for Pig to get very impatient and she began nipping at Ron's fingers. Ron said a curse word and dropped the cage on the left bed, making Harry laugh hysterically. He was very glad that he was here, at a Magical Institute. He really never thought he would survive his 7th year at Hogwart's, but there he was, laughing with his friend Ron. It was nice to see the world at peace, he had really never seen it before. When he came to Hogwart's all kinds of bad things began happening and he couldn't wait for everything to be peaceful again. Now that it was, he was immensely happy. All he could do at that moment was stare out the window and into the big blue sky and smile. 

"Stupid bird! You're so impatient!" Ron yelled, breaking Harry from his own thoughts. He looked over to Ron, who was trying to keep Pig calm since owl's couldn't leave their cages just yet. Harry looked over at Hedwig, who was eyeing Pig with an angry look. Obviously she didn't like the way the little owl was acting. 

The two began to unpack quickly so they could explore the school grounds before Freshman orientation later that night. But the two had barely gotten started when they heard a knock on their open door. Both turned their heads to see a muscular boy with a wide, toothy grin and big brown eyes.

"Hi! You're door was open, I thought I'd say hello." He told them in a thick American accent. But it wasn't a typical American accent, it was the kind that Harry had heard on T.V. cop shows that were based in New York City or Boston. It made him sound very tough indeed, "I'm new here too, where you two from?" 

"From around here," Ron said after he gulped down some if his anxiety, "You?" 

"I'm from Bawston." Harry was sure he meant Boston , it just didn't come out that way, "Got a Quidditch Scholarship, went to school at Alkateer Institute of Magic. Where'd you go?"

"Hogwart's." Harry answered quickly. The guys smile grew even wider at his answer.

"Hogwart's. Great school, I'm sure I'll like you guys." He walked over to Ron and held out his hand, Ron reflexively flinched, "I'm Jessie, Jessie Fatoni." 

Ron took his hand quickly and squeaked out, "Ronald Weasely," Just as Jessie was moving to shake Harry's hand.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter." He saw Jessie's eyes grow wide just as everyone else's did when they heard his name. 

"Are you really?" Jessie asked him, his eyes skimming Harry's hairline, "Great to meet ya Harry, Heard a lot about you of course." 

"Thanks." Harry said grimily, he really hated all the attention truth be told. Jessie talked to them for awhile before deciding that he needed to finish unpacking himself and left them alone.

"I thought he was going to kill us!" Ron squeaked yet agian, "I didn't know that freshman were that big."

"It's no wonder he got a Quidditch scholarship." Harry mumbled to himself, but Ron had heard him and nodded along.

"He's probably a beater or a Keeper judging by his size." Ron said as he began to unpack yet again. Though, just like before, before they could make a dent in their trunks there was another knock on their door. Expecting to see another new face Harry looked up eagerly... and saw the very sullen face of Hermione Granger. Ron suddenly began to beam as he noticed who was standing in their doorway, and Harry notice he looked quite a bit happier.

"I can't believe it!" She whined and walked into their room, sitting down on the bed where Pig was flying around in her cage. 

"Hermione!" Ron cried happily, "What are you doing here?" 

She threw herself down, now looking up at the ceiling, "I TOLD them to put me in Rosewand, but when I got my Dorm Room, they made a mistake, THEN they said they couldn't fix it and I was stuck where I am for the next year!" 

"Where are you at Hermione?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

"HERE! Can you believe it!?" She sat up again, "Me!? At a Boy/Girl Dorm! It must be against some kind of law! How am I ever going to get any studying done with boys right outside my room!?" 

"That's great Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, but Hermione shock him a very evil look, "I mean... I'm very sorry." 

"Well, you should be!" She sighed, "I can't believe this." 

Harry looked at Hermione like he hadn't seen her in ages (Actually it was about 3 months, but to him that was a very long time) and smiled at her. Hermione was a pretty girl, well she would be if she really cared about being pretty. Her hair was still quite bushy, though it would be very easy for her to flatten it now and she still dressed like she was a librarian. Even now she was wearing a long, grey, wool skirt and stopped at her calves, and a white button up blouse that was reminiscent of the uniform that they had to wear while at Hogwart's. The style seemed to have made an impression on her because he really had never seen her in anything different. Despite that though, anyone could tell she was a pretty girl, the only one who couldn't tell was Hermione herself. 

"Don't worry about it Hermione," Harry said as he shoved a bunch of clothes into a drawer, "we're all together again, it can't be that bad." 

"I guess that's true," Hermione smiled a little bit, "as long as you two don't bother me while I'm studying. I'm done with the antics that we pulled while we were at Hogwart's."

"You never know Hermione," Ron said rather smugly, "You actually might not study all the time."

"I'm taking this very seriously." She shot a very cold look toward Ron, "Unlike some of us here. After all, this is my future we're talking about." 

Ron grinned widely and looked over at Harry, "Hey, we might as well have a little fun right? We really didn't have time last year."

Hermione looked at Harry with a sympathetic eye as she remembered what happened in their 7th year, "I guess that's true..." 

"Besides Hermione, it's not like we came here just to party." Harry told her reassuringly.

"Yeah," Chuckled Ron, "Harry came here to get away from his family." 

Harry just sighed and then continued, "We're going to do some old fashioned book learning just like you want us too." 

Though Harry really meant what he said as a general amusement, it made Hermione very happy to hear it, she perked up a little bit and the smile on her face grew very big. He chuckled a bit, after seven years she had barely changed at all, she was still bookworm Hermione. It was nice, she was familiar to him and that made him quite happy.

"So who's your roommate Herm?" Ron asked, making her shrug.

"I don't know I have met her yet. I hope she's from somewhere far away. I would love to meet an American witch or an African Shaman." 

Harry shook his head and began to laugh, "You're a strange girl." 

The three talked until Ron and Harry were completely unpacked ( "I unpacked hours ago." said Hermione) and then they all decided to have a look around the grounds of the school. They were walking around taking in the sights. It was really a nice school despite the fact it looked a bit on the ominous side, the grass was completely green and fountains were everywhere, each one spewing out a different color of water. Hermione was giving them a verbal tour of the place too, Harry guessed she had read it somewhere before she came. He didn't dare ask her though, he had learned that asking Hermione where she got her information only made her talk more. So instead he listened to her talk about how certain Muggle inventions did work on the premises, but the spell could make certain items off limits to certain people, or how the fountain all lit up at night as were used as lamps so people knew where they were going. Or how fairies were flying around the whole school. 

She went on like that for a very long time and Harry noticed Ron listening intently. Well, he might have been pretending to be listening, but he was looking at her and nodding his head vigorously. That made Harry smile, one of the many examples of what Ron and Hermione felt for each other. That was exactly how they were too, sometimes he would swear that they didn't notice he was even there. He wished they would proclaim that they were Boyfriend and Girlfriend already because it was just confusing pretending they were otherwise. Harry realized that he was pretty lonely himself, the closest thing he ever had to a girlfriend was Hermione after all (Which was a strange thought in itself). It made his mind wander about what was going to happen while he was at school.

"Harry!? Are you listening to me?" Hermione snapped her fingers in front of his face, making him respond with a very simple "huh...", " I said we might as well find the auditorium since we're almost there anyway." 

"I keep telling Hermione that we have time, the orientation doesn't start for another hour," Ron whined, "But she's not listening to me." 

"We're going to have the best seats in the place if we go now." She smiled and walked inside the building. That was the end of that argument because both boys followed her inside as quickly as possible. When they got inside they didn't see an auditorium, they saw a long, empty hallways with many doors on both sides. They followed Hermione closely, since she seemed to know exactly where she was going. 

"Herm, do you know where you're going?" Ron asked as she turned on her heels into the right hallway. She stopped, turned around, and looked over to him.

"Of course," She rolled her eyes, "Don't you see the small light in front of me?" She pointed it out. It seemed rather obvious it was there now that Harry was looking for it, "The Fairies are around to help if you get lost, since classrooms around here have the tendency to switch around a lot." 

The small yellow light fluttered around Hermione's head impatiently and began zooming down the hallway. Hermione quickly began to follow it yet again, and both boys were right behind her. After turning quite a few corners and walking down many long hallways, they finally came across two very tall doors. They were a bit shocking to gaze upon at first since they were tall enough for giants to fit easily between them and had intricate carving throughout. They weren't very nice pictures though, it was full of dragons, gargoyles, werewolves, and all kinds of scary creatures. Honestly, Harry didn't really like the look of the door. 

"What's up with the door?" Ron asked with a slight squeak, "It's not going to attack us, is it?" 

"It represents the protection spell that has been placed in the college," Hermione explained, "This place has the tendency to attract darker spirits so they put a spell on it that keeps them at bay. See that," She pointed to a beautiful woman holding a sword that was carved near the top of the door, "She represents the spell. There are a lot of different carvings, each representing a different spell. I think it adds a creative touch." 

"Well, it still gives me the creeps." Ron gulped. 

Hermione quickly opened the door and they all walked inside. The auditorium was massive and very well decorated. It was filled with lush velvet draperies and very comfortable looking velvet chairs, all the color of deep maroon. The cherry wood that was throughout complemented the color scheme and made it seem very inviting. There was a balcony right above them and Harry noticed a few people sitting up there. Honestly, Harry longed to be one of those people since he knew that Hermione was going to make him sit right up front with her. He wondered if she thought tat, if she forced them both, eventually they would like to learn as much as she did. By the way she acted, that was certainly plausible. And so, when she moved toward the from of the auditorium, he wordlessly followed her, despite the fact he want to argue with her.

The three of them talked about what classes they were going to be taking that semester ( "I want to take Advanced Alcemetic Chemistry and Advanced Incantation," was Hermione's answer to that) for the rest of the hour as hundreds of Freshman piled into the auditorium. Harry had never seen so many new faces since his first trip to Hogwart's. It was strange being new all over again, he had really gotten used to Hogwart's and considered it to be his home. Now he was going to have to get used to another school, the thought of that was rather intimidating and he tried to push it out of his head. 

"Hello! Hello! May I have your attention please!" A woman's voice boomed in the air, making everyone quiet down quickly. On the stage was an older lady with white hair and a gentle face. She reminded Harry of a female Dumbledore and hoped that she was just a friendly, "Welcome all of you to your new home!" 

Everyone clapped, he looked over to see Hermione clapping extremely hard herself. Hermione seems pretty excited, Ron whispered to Harry in a monotone voice, making Harry laugh.

"First off I want to tell you how wonderful it is for you to have chosen Widdlewall School of Advanced Magical Studies as your school!" The woman smiled, some people cheered, "I'm Head Master Pomple, and behind me stand the Professor's who will be teaching you throughout the year. We at Widdlewall pride ourselves on teaching you the finer points of magic and do hope that we can help you on the path to choosing your career in the wizard world. Now with that said, I will tell you the rules at this school." 

Harry noticed Hermione pulled out a tape recorder, she looked over to him and mouthed, "This works here." 

"Class registration will begin in two days, and most classes will start following the weekend. During that weekend you will be expecting to purchase the needed book for your course. Freshman are not allowed to take any advanced classes unless they have special permission. There is no curfew, but the Guardians do appreciate you trying to get back to your dorm fairly early. Quidditch games will consist of two different teams," Harry perked up when he heard the word Quidditch, "Dorm team and School team. Only people in a specific dorm can try out for that team, but everyone is welcome to try out for the School team, The Widdlewall Wobblers, though we are much more selective." 

Harry heard a bunch of people mumbling around him, seemed a lot of people were excited about the Quidditch teams. He wondered if the American boy they met was on the Widdlewall Wobblers team or the Pheowin team, he made a note to ask whenever he saw him again. After Headmaster Pomple was done talking about Quidditch, he zoned out for the rest of the orientation. He caught pieces of the different speeches made by the Professors, but wasn't really paying attention to anything they were saying really. He mostly was thinking about the Quidditch teams and what classes he was going to be taking. Everything was so new around here, and there was so much freedom, he had to wonder what kind of adventure's he and his friends were in for. If only he had the slightest clue of what was to come...

  


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A/N: Hope you liked the first chapter. I liked writing it. Review it if you want to, I would love to hear your opinions, but if you don't that's fine too. Just as long as you read it and enjoyed it I'm a happy camper!

  



	2. A Long Ago Enemy

A/N: Notice the perception in the story changed from Harry to Hermione. Maybe it's just me, but it's not just Harry that makes the books great, it's also his friends Ron and Hermione (And his enemy Draco). I decided it might be interesting to do each Chapter from either Harry's, Ron's, or Hermione's perception, gives it a more 360 degree feel. Hope you guys like it as well ^_^.

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Chapter 2: A Long Ago Enemy (Hermione)

  


Hermione was very excited to be at Diagon Alley to grab her books. Professor McGonagall had given her special permission to take Advanced Alcemetic Studies, but couldn't get to Advanced Incantations in time. So instead she had to settle with Intermediate Incantations with Ron and Harry. That wasn't so bad really, at least it was a fair trade, she would get to be her friends after all. She only had two classes with both of them the entire semester, it was going to be very different not being in every class with her two best friends. 

All three of them quickly got the books that they needed and took off for other stores to shop in. Hermione had worked with her parents in the dentist office and had made enough money to last her quite a while, especially since she was quite good at picking stocks and had managed to triple her money. Most of it had been converted to Wizard money and was now residing in the Gringott's bank. It was nice to know that she didn't have to worry about money for a very long time and looked forward to going shopping for some new robes, since her old Hogwart's one just wasn't going to cut it anymore. 

"Do you like the lavender robes or the green ones?" Hermione asked the boys, holding them both up to her so they could compare.

"I don't know Hermione, get both of them." Ron whined as he sat on the bench holding his bags of books and his own set of new robes. Ron had also gotten a job over the summer, he hadn't spent a dime just so he wouldn't have to worry too much about money. He looked positively ecstatic about buying brand new robes for practically the first time. The way he was smiling when the cashier rang him up made her very happy as well. She always did like it much better when Ron was happy, it always made her happy as well. 

"I think your right Ron." She smiled at him, "I'll get both." 

"Thank Goodness, are we done now?" Harry asked her, "I want to go to the Joke shop before we get back." 

"Alright." Hermione relented and grabbed the two robes (Plus a black one and a sapphire blue one that just happened to catch her eye) and went to ring them up. They just didn't understand what it was like to be a girl, even though she would rather read or do homework, there were times when she just liked to shop like a normal person. It was one of the cons of being best friends with boys and it made her wish she had gotten a little closer to some of the girls at school. Sure, she wrote to them every once and awhile, but none of them were as close to her as the boys were. If they were, she could go shopping with them and not hear all the whining when she wanted to go shopping for some clothes. Automatically, her mind went to her roommate. Oddly enough, she still hadn't met her yet, they just kept missing each other. Even when Hermione came back from talking in Harry and Ron's room, her roommate had already fallen asleep. Of course, usually she did end up getting to her room rather late because of the boys. She vowed that when classes actually started she wouldn't let them distract her. 

After she got her new robes, all three of them began walking to the Joke Shop as their last stop of the day. Hermione was extremely tired however, and the joke shop really didn't appeal to her so instead she decided to leave early. They all said their goodbyes and Hermione Apparated back to Widdlewall. She was extremely proud of herself that she was so good at it, she pretty much had it down to a science really and already had her license. Widdlewall did allow people to Apparate on school grounds, unlike Hogwart's, but students and faculty could only Apparate to one room on the entire grounds. The person's name even appeared behind them on a board, to let the staff know who was going in and out. It was all rather exciting to Hermione, who thought all this stuff was rather interesting. When she finally appeared in the room (It seems like a longer trip than it really was, and it always made Hermione a little dizzy), she couldn't help but look behind her. Hermione Granger, Student ID: 108654, First year. was sitting on the board and the painting that was always on guard in the room gave her a thumbs up to let her know that she could leave. The whole thing made her perk up a little bit, it was so interesting to see all the enchantments on the school at work.

She quickly walked out of the main building and toward her dormitory. So many people were walking around, talking about their wands or trying to find their classes. It made her wonder who around here she would get to know and who would remain strangers. She knew she would join a study group of some kind, hopefully she would meet people who actually liked to study as much as she did. Harry and Ron were great and they would always be her best friends (Well, Ron was in a totally different category, but she never really admitted it) but she wanted a few friends that had the same interest in learning that she did. It wasn't just something she did to pass the time, it was a big passion for her, something that she really liked to do. It kind of annoyed her that they didn't see that.

When she finally got to her room she let out a heavy sigh and collapsed onto her bed. There was still one more day until school actually started and she could barely contain herself. After all her first class of the day was going to be Advanced Alcemetic Studies, which she was looking forward to very much. Hermione really liked the scientific aspect of magic very much, she was already considering a career in that field, even though Ron and Harry might be happier if she were an Auror or a Quidditch player

"One whole day..." She groaned out, "What am I going to do until then?"

"Hello?" A voice came from the bathroom. She shot up and looked to the left.

"Um... Hello?" She responded a little cautiously. An Asian girl with dyed blonde hair stepped out of the bathroom, her hair newly wet and matted against her head, and looked at her with wide, round black eyes. 

"Who are you?" Hermione asked. The bathroom was connected to another dorm room so it probably was one of the neighbors. 

"Are you Heru-me-owniegh Garunjur?" The girl asked, having a lot of trouble pronouncing Hermione's name. 

"Yeah, I think I am..." Hermione answered, making the girl smile widely, "How do you know my name?" 

"You are my roommate." She replied and sat down on her own bed. As soon as she sat on it, the bed looked a whole lot bigger. The girl was very small, only about 5'1 and maybe 100 pounds. She barely looked old enough to be gong to a college honestly, "I'm Watanabe Ayumi." 

"Watanabe? That's a strange name." Hermione wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"What? No..." Watanabe Ayumi laughed, "Watanabe is my surname. I'm sorry I forgot... see in my culture it is customary to say your surname first. My name is Ayumi." 

"Oh!" Hermione suddenly got very excited. It was clear her roommate was from the Far East somewhere, which was a completely different culture of Muggle's and Wizards She had so many questions for the girl suddenly pop into her head, but all that popped out at first was, "Where are you from?" 

"Japan." She answered, "I went to school in Tokyo." 

"Oh, how exciting!" Hermione exclaimed, "Well, not for you, of course, because you grew up there, but I've never been to Japan and..." She quickly realized she was talking to much by the look on Ayumi's face, "What made you decide to come to school here?" 

Ayumi began to laugh, "You are very funny Granger-san". 

Granger-san? She had only heard that once in a Karate Kid movie, it had to mean Ms. or something by the way Ayumi was using it in context, "You can call me Hermione."

Ayumi looked at her rather strangely, "Her-my-oni... Hehr-myowny," Ayumi's brow furrowed as she tried to pronounce her name right, "Her-my-nee?" 

"Close enough." 

"You're name is spelled much differently than it is pronounced."Ayumi sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." She mumbled, thinking about everyone who pronounced her name Hermy-own, "Anyway, you didn't answer why question, why did you decide to come to school in Britain?" 

"Something new," Ayumi shrugged, "Widdlewall is one of the best school in the world and Japan is very small, I had already seen a lot of it." 

"Britain isn't much bigger."Hermione smiled.

"True, but I have never seen it." Ayumi answered with a somewhat serious tone. Hermione could tell already that she was going to like this girl. The two talked for a very long time and, even though Ayumi seemed a bit on the different side, she really got along with her. Both were interested in each others cultures and both were taking a few advanced classes this semester. The next thing Hermione knew it was dark outside, making her wonder if the boys were back yet or not.

"Hermione, we're ba..." Harry walked into her dorm room and looked straight at Ayumi, "Hello." 

Ayumi giggled slightly and sat up a bit straighter, "You are Harry Potter-san," She pointed to the scar on his forehead, "I have wanted to meet you for long time." 

"Thank you," Harry smiled slightly, "What's your name?" 

" HARRY! I told you to wait for me!" Ron ran into the room, panting rather hard like he had to chase Harry down, "You know I want to see Hermione too!" Ron then noticed the pretty Japanese girl and seemingly forgot all about Hermione, "Whoa... who're you?" 

"Ron, you're drooling". Hermione snapped at him, he quickly shot his attention right to her.

"I am Ayumi." She bowed a little bit, "Who are you?" 

"I'm Ronald Weasely," Ron bowed back, making Hermione scowl at him.

"Nice to meet you Weasely-san." She giggled, "I think that you and Hermione are boyfriend and girlfriend, right?" 

Both Hermione and Ron blushed at the question. She didn't even know what Ron was to her. They were much more than just friends, but they weren't really boyfriend and girlfriends either. Luckily, Ayumi didn't wait for an answer to the question. 

"I think that is wonderful. Love is very important in my culture, it's nice to see you two have found each other." She then looked over to Harry, "Do you have a girlfriend?" 

"I..." Hermione noticed Harry blushing a little bit. That was funny to see, considering he hardly ever blushed, "No, I don't have one." 

"Well, maybe that will change while you are here." Ayumi's statement was said purely from innocence, with no hidden meaning what-so-ever, but it still made Harry turn an even darker shade of red. 

The boys joined in the conversation after that, Hermione only hoped that Ayumi would like them. They were going to be around a lot after all, and it would make things easier if they got along. It seemed like that was the case after awhile, they all talked about things like Quidditch ( I was on the team in Tokyo, Ayumi told them, and Harry got very happy at that statement), their schedules ( We have Transfiguration 101 together, Ayumi Ron beamed, looking at Ayumi. Hermione smacked him for that.), and their families back home. Harry said out of the conversation about families though, Hermione felt like switching the subject every time she looked at him. He never did have the best home life, his Muggle family weren't very understanding about magic at all. It made her very grateful to her parents, they were very interested in everything magical and even supported her in her decision to go into a magical career field. She felt very blessed to have parents like them really, but it also made her feel very sorry for Harry. Ever since she met him she had always wished there was something more she could do for him than just give him sympathy.

When the boys finally left, Ayumi changed into her pajamas and quickly got into bed. Hermione, on the other hand, picked up one of her school books and began to read it. It never hurt to be prepared for the first day of school, who knew what kind of things they would throw at her 

"Hermione?" Ayumi's voice made her look up from her book, Have you ever been to Diagon Alley? 

"Yeah, I was just there today, why?"

"Oh... I have never been there..." Ayumi mumbled, "I was going to ask if you wanted to show me around... but you have already been there..." 

"I'll go with you!" Hermione said a little too excitedly. She cleared her throat and calmed down quickly, "I wasn't there that long, I would be happy to show you around." 

"Okay, good. I didn't want to go there alone." Ayumi smiled, "Good night." She quickly drew the hangings on her bed so that Hermione couldn't see her anymore. Finally, she thought to herself, a girl who I ca go shopping with Not only that, Ayumi was very smart, maybe they could join a study group together. She was quite relieved that her roommate was so likable, she had heard many horror stories of really bad roommates. She smiled to herself and began to read again, maybe this year wasn't going to be that bad. 

  


*******

  


Ayumi and Hermione flew all over Diagon Alley the next day. Ron and Harry had decided to stay behind and practice Quidditch, which meant that it was just a girl's day for the both of them. They went to The Leaky Cauldron for some Butterbeer and food, and then went straight to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. Ayumi was dressing herself in all the robes she could find, like she had never seen a robe in her life.

"The robes back home look more like Kimonos, I'll have to show you mine when we get back." Ayumi explained while she pranced around in a pink rob with embroidered flowers along the bottom, "I've never seen western robes before." 

"It looks very pretty on you." Hermione told her while checking herself out in the mirror. She was wearing a deep maroon robe that had gold trim along the edges and even had it's own hair clip so girl's could put there hair up.

"There are so many pretty ones, I can't decide which one I want to buy." Ayumi sighed loudly. That made Hermione laugh, that was exactly how she sounded yesterday.

"Go with the pink and teal, those looked best on you I think." Hermione told her, making Ayumi smile widely.

"Oh! Thank you! I will!" She bowed a little bit and grabbed the teal robe, then began walking to the check out stand. Madam Malkin looked very happy to see Ayumi so excited about buying a few of her robes. While Ayumi was paying for her new clothes, Hermione quickly put away the maroon one and walked out of the store. Diagon Alley wasn't really all that crowded strangely, which would make it easier to just go window shopping. That was something she had never done, it was about time she just took a look around.

"What do you think?" Ayumi's voice exclaimed behind her, making her turn around. She was wearing the teal robe, which suited her complexion perfectly. The girl was flawless, it made Hermione a little jealous, "Malkin-san said I could wear them out of the store. That was nice of her." 

"Yeah it was. Where do you want to go now?" 

"I still need to get some books." Ayumi looked down at her hand, on her palm was Japanese symbols that Hermione didn't even dare read, "I guess I should get them before I forget."

"Oh great! Flourish and Blott's is just right over there! It's my favorite store, they have so many books." Hermione grabbed Ayumi's hand and led her toward the book store and it wasn't long before they had all of her books all picked out. Hermione also decided that she was going to pick up The Widdlewall Enchantments Guide, Know What Spells Are On Your School before they left. Ayumi decided to wait outside while Hermione ran in and got it. There was only one copy from what she could see, maybe there were others who were interested in learning about the school. She hoped that she would meet them eventually. 

Checking out quickly, she ran back outside so Ayumi wouldn't wait long... but she was nowhere to be found. Hermione looked all around her, but didn't see the girl anywhere.

"Where could she have gone too?" Hermione asked herself, then shrugged. It's not like Diagon Alley was all that big, she would probably find her eventually. Just as long as she didn't go down to Knockturn Alley Ayumi should be okay. Hermione shivered at the thought of that place, it really gave her the creeps. It was a favorite place for all Dark Wizards when Voldemort was rising in power again. She hated going down there, people were still really scary. 

Maybe Ayumi went to the Owl Emporium, she thought to herself. It was a favorite of most wizards after all. There were all kinds of animals in there and that's where she had gotten Crookshanks. She missed her cat, but he was sick when she left for Widdlewall and he would have to come down to the school once he got better. Maybe Ayumi would want a cat for a familiar, though she didn't know what kind of familiars they had in Japan, she would defiantly have to ask. However, after seeing a lot of different animals, Ayumi wasn't anywhere to be found. That made her a little frustrated and she decided to wait for her down at The Leaky Cauldron. Eventually she would have to go back there. 

Once there she ordered herself another Butterbeer and sipped it slowly. It was her favorite drink, so it was very hard to drink it that slow, but she figured the slower she drank it, the more likely Ayumi would show up during this one glass. Soon, though, it was almost empty and she had still not come into the Leaky Cauldron. Maybe she had gone out without her, decided she was boring or something. She really hoped that wasn't the case, she really didn't find herself all that boring. 

"Heru-myowny?" Hermione looked up and saw Ayumi standing by the entrance.

"Ayumi!? Where were you?" Hermione jumped up and ran to the girl, who looked a little flushed.

"I was waiting for you to buy your book, and I was going to go look at a robe in a shop window... but I couldn't find my way back." Ayumi sighed, "I got lost and ended up at a place called Knockturn Alley. It was very scary." 

"Oh! Are you okay?" Hermione asked, "I really don't like that place, it's full of Dark Magic." 

"Oh yes, a nice boy from our school helped me find my way back here." Ayumi pointed outside, but there was a quite a few people outside so she didn't see who she was pointing to.

"I don't see him, where is he?" Hermione asked, making Ayumi grab her hand and lead her outside.

"You must meet him. I was telling him all about you and he seemed very interested." She exclaimed and began looking around. Hermione began looking around too, but still didn't see anyone who looked their age. 

"Granger..." A male voice said behind her. She felt a small tinge of panic in the back of her neck, like her body recognized the voice almost instantly, yet her mind couldn't place it. She turned around, and she was suddenly staring into the cold, grey eyes of none other than Draco Malfoy.

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A/N: Yeah, Draco's back. What can I say, I like him ^_^. Makes for an interesting story doesn't it? I think it does. Hope you liked this Chapter as much as I liked writing it. 


	3. The Return of Draco Malfoy

A/N: Two Hermione Chapters in a row. Well, reasons are because I like her and I felt as though the Draco business wasn't quite finished. There needed to be more too it and get his character a little more involved. Don't worry Ron fans! He appears in the next chapter for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!

  
  
  


Chapter 3: The Return of Draco Malfoy (Hermione)

  


"Malfoy!?" She was so shocked to see him standing behind her she didn't even think about shooting a sneer right back at him. She quickly regained herself though and gave him an angry look, "Talked your way out of Azkaban I see."

"I didn't do anything wrong." He shrugged, "My dad made me get involved with those Death Eaters."

"Oh, oh, and the Ministry of Magic fell for that one, eh?" She rolled her eyes.

Draco smirked a little bit, "I may not like _your_ kind, "He said that like it was the most insulting thing he could call her, making her see he hadn't changed very much, "But I certainly didn't want Voldemort killing half the world because he was on some 'Muggle daddy didn't love me' kick."

Hermione laughed at his ludicrous statement, "You're not a convincing liar, Malfoy."

"Where's Potter," Malfoy spat, looking around, "Isn't he usually within five feet of you?"

"He didn't come, I can with my friend."

"Oh, did he finally grow a brain and dump you Granger?" Draco laughed, "I always knew you were dragging him down."

Hermione was ready to say something foul right back to him, but she noticed Ayumi looking at them, and by the look on her face, she was confused about what was going on in front of her. 

"Sorry, Ayumi, but you really shouldn't be anywhere near him." Hermione told her.

"Draco?" Ayumi asked, "He was very nice to me when I was lost... You don't like him?"

"No."

Ayumi looked at Draco, "You don't like her?" Draco sneered in response, "Then, I apologize, I didn't know you two knew each other."

"We're leaving now, the subway is going to be here soon." Hermione gave one last look to Draco before grabbing Ayumi's arm and taking off down the street. When they got to the Subway Station, Hermione could finally breath a sigh of relief. She had no idea that he had been set free, she was sure he got sent to Azkaban for what he did. How did he slip threw the cracks?

"Did you two go to school together?" Ayumi asked Hermione suddenly, breaking silence between them.

"Yeah, he doesn't like Harry," Hermione sighed, "and he hates me."

"Why doesn't he like you?" Ayumi began to play with her blond hair.

"Because I'm muggle born." Hermione grumbled, "He hates them. He was even a supposed Death Eater when You-Know-Who came back, don't know how he wormed his way out of prison though..."

"Wow, he seemed like such a nice person to me." Ayumi shrugged, "But I guess that was because I wasn't near you. I'll be sure to be more careful around him when we are all at school."

"Do that because your friends with me so you're an enemy to... he's going to our school?" Hermione exclaimed.

Ayumi smiled, "Yes, I told you that the boy who helped me was a student at Widdlewall. That is what he said anyway."

There had to be some kind of mistake! She couldn't go through four years of having Draco Malfoy around AGAIN! She had thought that she would never see him again, but there he was in all his horrible glory, making rude comments like they were back at Hogwart's. They were adults now, why couldn't he just grow up and at least tolerate her existence. Even worse, why couldn't she tolerate his? It was like she was reduced to a child whenever he was around... how did he get her to sink so low?

When the subway entered the station, Hermione decided not to think anymore on it. There was no use stressing over something she couldn't control, and she really couldn't control Malfoy. Instead she would just warn Harry and Ron that he was back in their lives and hope that everything would work out for the best. 

  


*******

  


Monday. She had been waiting for Monday since last week and it was finally here. It was a beautiful day outside, the birds were chirping, the sky was a shade of pale blue, and Hermione could only think of one thing: finally, classes were starting. She was so excited that she had gotten ready two hours early and walked around, waiting for her roommate to wake up so they could go find the Advanced Studies building. Walking down the concrete path, she wondered if Harry and Ron were up yet. They had talked yesterday about Malfoy (Harry told her not to worry about it, he was just going to be an annoyance) and they hadn't talked since. Her mind quickly went to Ron, she hadn't spoken to him alone since they had gotten to college, she kind of missed him. Blushing a little bit, she began to remember all the times they have had together, all the conversations they had, and the kiss they shared last summer. It only seemed natural that they would be together, after all they were really good friends. Who else would she end up with? She certainly couldn't think of anyone. Of course, they were young, so they were reluctant to say that they were involved. Not only would it grind on the friendship they had, but they also realized that feelings could change right now. It was fine that Ron didn't proclaim her to be his girlfriend, he didn't need to, it was just assumed really. 

She continued to walk down the path and think of different things, not really paying attention to the scenery around her. There were only a few people up, and they looked rather groggy. Not her though, she loved the morning, because that meant another day of learning. After about an hour, she decided to see if someone she knew was up, so she rushed back to the Pheowin Dormitory. It was getting rather boring being by herself and she would have plenty of alone time when she was studying or doing homework. So, she walked up the stairs to the second floor and went to Ron's room first. Maybe he was up and they could talk.

At first she knocked, but no one answered. Then she jiggled the door handle, it was unlocked so that had to mean someone was up. She just sighed and let herself in.

"If one of you is naked, I suggest getting dressed about now." She yelled as she entered. What she came in on was Harry still sleeping in his bed and Ron coming into the room with a toothbrush in his mouth. Ah, the toothbrush, one of the only things that Muggles and Wizards have in common, "Hi, Ron."

Ron blushed a bit and ran toward the bathroom. She heard him spit then say, "What are you doing here!?"

"I'm sorry, if I'm bothering you I can just leave." Hermione began to walk out the door. Ron rushed back into the room with a panicked look on his face.

"No, you don't have to go. I was just wondering." He said quickly, making her smile. That was just the answer she wanted to hear.

"I can't stay long, I promised Ayumi we would look for our first classes together," Hermione looked around the room, taking in all that was Harry and Ron. There were lots of posters of the Chudley Cannons (Ron's favorite Quidditch team) on the walls, a few posters of musicians that she had never seen before, probably Wizard musicians since she really didn't keep up with that, and plates were all over the floor, "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"You saw me yesterday," He looked at her confused, "You know how I'm doing."

"Well, I saw you with _Harry_ yesterday... I wanted to talk to _you_."Hermione hoped he had gotten the meaning of her words. He must have because soon after he turned crimson.

"Oh..."

After that both of them got rather silent. That happened a lot when they were alone. It was easy to be friends around a lot of other people, but when they were alone they really didn't know how to act around each other. Both looked away from each other and down at the floor, Hermione was almost hoping that Harry would wake up just to break the tension.

"You excited about classes?" Ron asked her, then sighed, "Of course you are, you are Hermione after all."

"Hey, that's quite a stereotype!" She shot back.

"I've known you for nearly eight years Hermione, I don't think I'm stereotyping you anymore." He smiled at her, which made her smile. He did have a point there.

"I guess your right," She said.

Ron began to laugh, "I'm right! Wow, it's rare when I'm right with you around."

"Well, if you would just devote more time to studying like I do than you wouldn't have that problem."She told him a-matter-of-factly. 

Ron looked at her with a stern glare, "Are you ever going to stop hounding me about studying more?"

"Only when you start studying more, of course." She smiled and glanced at the clock on the dresser, "Oh, I had better go, Ayumi is probably up by now."

"Ok," Ron stood up to give her a hug, but he chickened out at the last minute and stuck out his hand, "Nice seeing you then."

She sighed, "Ron, honestly." Quickly she gave him a very tight bear hug and then looked at him, "I wonder about you sometimes."

"I..."

"I'll see you later." She chuckled out and then quickly left the room. She wished that he was a little less nervous about everything. He didn't like to talk to her when they were alone and he certainly didn't like touching her either. He needed to be more open, because there was nothing Hermione didn't like more was good conversation and some healthy debate. He always seemed to anxious to try that kind of stuff, like she would beat him up or something. She supposed that she would have to teach him that kind of stuff, after all, no one was perfect for each other. No, each person teach their partner what is expected of them and what they should do, and Hermione figured eventually he would learn that it was okay to talk to her. 

It was getting pretty late, so she quickened her pace to her room. When she got there Ayumi was ready and waiting for her. She quickly apologized and both then spent the next half hour looking for their Advanced classes. They finally found them five minutes before their classes were scheduled to start.

Hermione walked into her class very nervously and took a seat in one of the empty desks. Everyone around her looked a lot older than her, she really hoped she had made the right decision by picking this class. She had no idea if she would be able to keep up.

"Welcome Class." A teacher suddenly appeared in front of the class. He was an older man with wild hair and even wilder wardrobe. His glasses were thick, behind them his eyes looked about the size of Bludger balls, "I'm Professor Yullinty, I'll be your Advanced Alchemy teacher. Since you students have chosen this class, I'm sure all of you know the basics of Magical Alchemy. So, with that said, what was the one mistake Muggle's made while trying to preform regular Alchemy?"

A girl to the left of Hermione raised her hand quickly, Professor Yullinty pointed to her, "The process they had perfected would have taken hundreds of years to actually produce something substantial Muggle's can be a little fool hardy at times."

"Very good, miss." He smiled a little bit and did a little jump. That made Hermione smile, this guy was quite the character. 

"Now does anybody know how we Magical people came across this Muggle idea?" He asked, but no one raised their hand... except for Hermione. He looked right at her and pointed, like he had down with the other girl.

"A Wizard by the name of Alexander Jansen came across a famous Muggle Alchemist while traveling in Europe. Interested in what the Muggle was doing, he studied him very closely for the next couple of months and found many things that he could fix with Magic. After that he founded the Magical Alchemist's Union around the 1500's." Hermione answered like she was reading straight from a text book. It seemed to make Professor Yullinty happy though, he looked at her squeaked in delight.

"Very good, very good!" He exclaimed. This was how the class was for the rest of the time she was there. She actually ended up answering most of the questions while everyone else just looked at her dumbfounded. She didn't understand why though, everything they needed to know was in the text books for Alcemetic Studies 101 and Intermediate classes. It's not like it's that hard to pick up the copies that were in the library. 

The class was more than she could have ever hoped, they were going to start doing experiments next week and they were also doing a lot of reading too. It was a great balance of both and she finally felt like she was going to do just fine in an Advanced class. She looked down at her schedule when Professor Yullinty dismissed them, she had Herbology next. She remembered that class at Hogwart's, it was a rather dirty class, but the idea of learning about potent healing herbs really appealed to her. She already knew where it was too, the greenhouses that were on the other side of the school. Looking at her watch, she realized she only had about 15 minutes in between these two classes and began to quicken her pace. Her schedule was kind of full in the mornings, but her afternoons were practically free, which she did on purpose so she could get an early start to the library. Of course that meant she only had that one class with Ron and Harry, because they practically filled their afternoons up so they could sleep in. 

This was around the time the rest of the college was getting to their first class, so the quad area that she had to cut threw was rather crowded. Everyone seemed just as groggy as the people were about 2 hours ago, seemed people were the same no matter what time they got up. It took ten minutes just to cut through the quad so she really had to race to get to get to the greenhouses.

Once she got there though she realized she was 5 minutes early. She didn't know she was that fast of a runner, but it gave her time to get her books in order so she didn't really question it. There were many people surrounding the one large table in the middle of the room, but none of them she recognized. Just like in her last class, she didn't seem to know anyone and they all seemed to be in their own private cliques. That made her miss her own small clique and she wondered what Harry and Ron were doing right about now. She quickly decided she would think about her friends, and she began to pull her hair back to get ready for class.

"Ugh, not you." A voice said next to her. She glanced over with her eyes to see it was Draco Malfoy. That made her panic internally, but she kept her cool outside. What was he doing in this class? He probably picked it on purpose just to bother her all semester. All these horrible thoughts were filling her head, but she didn't even bother to look at him.

"Go away." She said calmly and looked down at her book.

"I can't. This is the only seat left in this stupid class." 

"Then don't talk to me." She replied. He didn't say anything after that, that was good, at least he was going to listen to her. Of course, if he wanted to talk he wouldn't have had the time, the teacher came in about 5 seconds after their little conversation.

"Hello class! Hello!" The teacher proclaimed happily. She was a skinny woman with big teeth and ever bigger smile, "I'm Professor Kelsin and I'll be your teacher. Ah, look at all the fresh young faces, I hope you like getting your hands dirty!"

"I know you do Granger, everything is dirty about you." Draco hissed under his breath so she would hear. She just chose to ignore the comment, he was just trying to get under her skin after all.

"I'm letting you know now I'm not the classroom kind of teacher. We will we starting to hike the Mulsen Mountain as soon as possible to find the right medicinal herbs." Professor Kelsin smiled even wider, "This will help you if you should ever find yourself in an emergency. But for now, I will be showing you what you are to look for."

"I already know what to look for, this is going to be easy for me." Draco mumbled, she really didn't know if he was talking to her or himself. Probably himself, he didn't really seem the type to have many friends (Mostly because he was a mean bugger), he was probably used to it.

"Please be quiet, I'm trying listen." She whispered over to him politely, after all he was ruining her concentration.

"Oh, I'm a disturbing the great Granger? Little miss perfect is bothered by ME!?" He snarled at her, making her snap her head in his direction.

"Be quiet!" She hissed between her teeth, still trying to maintain a level of calm.

"What? Don't want me to get you into trouble? Oh, maybe I should so I can watch you get yelled at on the first day." He said in a somewhat louder tone. 

"Stop it Malfoy." Hermione rolled her eyes, "Grow up already."

Hermione then noticed the teacher giving them both disapproving looks so she quickly turned her attention back to the front. Draco tried to get her attention again, but she just ignored him.

"Okay, Let's see," Professor Kelsin put a finger to her chin and her brow furrowed, "Why don't I split you up into partners, since I only have enough ingredients for about half of you. I honestly wasn't expecting a lot of people in this class." She said with a smile and began pointing around the room, "You and you, you two will make good partners. The brown haired girl there... and you boy, you will do. And The curly haired girl," She pointed to Hermione, "Why don't you partner with the blond boy next to you. I noticed you to getting along so well before," Hermione noticed the bit of sarcasm in that sentence, "while you were talking during my lecture."

"I'm not working with her." Draco said as he raised his hand, but Professor Kelsin only laughed at him.

"Oh, yes you are." She told him and then went back to picking out partners.

"See what you get for trying to distract me?" Hermione shot at him when the teacher stopped focusing on them, "Now you have to work with a Muggle born."

He only growled at her. In fact, he didn't say a word to her after that, unless it had to do with the project. It wasn't that bad really, and it was nice that Draco's mouth was shut for a change. This would defiantly be an experience that she would have to tell the boys about.

  


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A/N: I have nothing say here, just thought I'd say thanks for reading. I know my chapters are extremely long and those who get through them deserve to be thanked, don't you think? 


	4. And the Plot Thickens

A/N: Yay! Ron finally gets a say! For all those Hermione/Ron lovers, your not going to like this chapter very much... Seems Ron has a crush on someone else. ^_^ Hmm... will they end up together or not? That is the question. 

BTW have you guys read book 5? Awesome wasn't it? Jo Rowlings has the greatest imagination ever. Very sad about the character who died. :(. 

Anyway, on with my fanfiction (which in no way compares to the original books, but hey, read it anyway)!!!

  


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Chapter 4: And the Plot thickens..... (Ron)

Ron never liked school, it was more of an annoyance then anything. He was only going because his mom wanted him too. Because of Hermione's help we was able to get a few scholarships and grants, so he was practically going to school for free. He was sitting in his last class of the day practically zoning out because of boredom. How was he going to get through the next four years? He didn't even really know what he wanted to do. If Hermione had her way she would probably have him be a scientist or something that actually required work. If Harry had his way, well he would probably do whatever Harry was... he didn't seem to like doing many things alone (unless of course, it was saving the world from Voldemort, which he had done countless times on his own, which was just fine with Ron really). Ron though... Ron never really thought about what he wanted to be. He dreamed, yes, he dreamed a lot about silly things like being on a Quidditch team and becoming an Auror, but he never really sat down and thought about it. Hermione always got so made at him for not doing that too.

Hermione, he smiled when he thought about her and soon after he began to blush. Though he was 18, he still didn't really like dealing with his feelings for her, or any other girl for that matter. He was just naturally shy, it wasn't his fault. He envied Harry a little bit, he was always so cool when talking to girls, of course he never noticed when a girl was trying to date him. Harry was cool, but he was a bit naive. Still, Ron would like to have the ability that Harry had when it came to girls. He was even too shy to talk to Hermione when they were alone. Honestly, it was sad. 

The class finally ended and Ron was able to snap out of his daydreams and head back to the dorm to relax. Harry and Hermione should be done with classes also, so he hoped he would catch one of them.

"Weasely-san! Weasely-san!" A female voice with a thick Asian accent said behind Ron, making Ron turn around. He knew who it was and he turned bright red as soon as he saw her. 

"H-hi, A-ayumi..." He stuttered. Ayumi, Hermione's roommate... and too pretty to be real. Her hair literally looked like spun gold, same color and same shine as the sun. Her eyes were big, so big they practically took over her face, giving her a childlike quality and an innocence that was almost unmatched. They looked like deep, inviting caves too, with how black they were an all. She was tiny though, she almost looked too fragile to just be walking around. In other words, Ayumi made him very nervous.

"Are you done with class for today?" She asked him in her somewhat husky voice. It wasn't a deep voice, but there was a scratchiness to it that was intriguing.

"Y-yeah... I'm done..." He replied in a slight squeak, making her giggle. He looked down at her robes, they were very odd looking. They looked more like bathrobes made of satin then wizards robes. It was pretty on her though, light purple with white lilacs painted all along the bottom, "Nice robe."

"Oh! Sank you!" She smiled, "Many people were staring at me today because of it though, I should have worn something more Western. In Japan we call this _Maho Kimono_."

"What does that mean?" Ron asked her.

"Magic Garment." She smiled, "It is different from regular Kimono because we do not have to wear sash or pillow in the middle, and we can wear clothes underneath if we want. Boys have one too, it just go to their waist."

"Oh..." Ron replied, "Do you guys learn the same magic stuff we do in Japan?"

Ayumi thought about the question for awhile before asking, "Yes and No. We learn the same spells and we learn different ones. Alohamora is an unlocking spell there, but you don't have _Usui Kiri no Ryu_. I think there are some spells I do not know of yours as well."

"What's...." He thought about remembering how to pronounce it, but decided it wasn't a good idea to try, "That one you said."

"It's a spell that transforms a person into a mist... it mean Dragon's Mist." She smiled, "So are you meeting Oni-chan?"

Oni is what Ayumi had begun calling Hermione because she couldn't pronounce her name, "I don't know, depends on if I see her."

"Good, I walk with you then, I want to talk to her too." Ayumi smiled yet agian, she seemed like such a happy girl. Could Ron smile back though? No, he was too busy being embarrassed to smile back at her. He couldn't believe how sad he was. 

"We have a class together tomorrow you know." She exclaimed happily, "I am very excited because I did not know anyone in my classes today."

"I-I can't wait either." He said quickly and looked down. Did she have to be so pretty? If she was just a little less attractive maybe he would be able to look her in the eye once in awhile. 

Ayumi was very talkative, Ron didn't have to say very much while they made their way to the dorm because she pretty much carried the conversation. That was perfectly okay with Ron, in fact he preferred that to trying to hold the conversation on his own... he could barely talk to her anyway. He was a bit relieved when they got to the dormitory, now at least he could stop embarrassing himself. He couldn't believe how horrible he was around girls, he should have been over this fear a long time ago.

Ayumi said the password slowly (Her accent was a bit thick and the Phoenix painting had a hard time understanding her unless she said it slow) and then they both made their way upstairs to look for the others too. Of course, they didn't have to look too hard, Hermione was standing by the stairs looking a bit on the angry side. 

"Oh, there you are!" Hermione squeaked, "Have you seen Harry?"

"No, why?" Ron asked her a bit confused, "Is something the matter?"

"I have Draco in one of my classes! He practically tortured me the whole time!" Hermione began to turn red, "I thought he would have grown up by now."

"Oh, well I guess that isn't good, is it?" Ron shrugged, "You could always slug him."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I'm not slugging anyone, I just need to vent for awhile."

"I thought he was nice when I saw him again..." Ayumi murmured, making both of them look at her.

"Again?" Hermione asked her.

"He caught up with me while I was walking to one of my classes, he was very nice," Ayumi smiled, "He kept talking about you though Oni."

"Why would he keep talking about me?" Hermione asked with an angry tone.

"Oh you know, Malfoy," Ron told her quickly, "He's always had a strange obsession with making you miserable."

Hermione sighed loudly, "I would like it very much if he just completely forgot about my existence."

"He would never do that, he knows it would make you too happy." Ron smiled at her, making her smile back at him. He blushed a bit and quickly looked down to the floor, "Where _is _Harry?"He looked around a little over dramatically, making sure neither girl saw his bright red face.

"He probably has another class." Ayumi told him with a big smile, "Do you know what his classes are?"

"No, I'm not his keeper." Ron answered defensively, "Most likely he's flirting with some girl. He's oh-so-popular as the guy who killed Voldemort...twice."

"Yes, that was amazing." Ayumi said excitedly, "And so shocking. I did not expect Potter to be nice and normal. He is a good guy."

Ron sighed, "Yeah, nobody even notices me whenever he's around."

"I notice you." Hermione said with a slight blush. Ayumi smiled wider.

"I notice you too Weasely," Ayumi reached up and ruffled Ron's hair, "You're cute with your pretty red hair."

He couldn't help but notice the angry look that Hermione gave Ayumi in that moment. 

"Thanks, but I'm still just Harry Potter's best friend to everyone around here." Ron shrugged.

"I like the Best Friend better," Ayumi said thoughtfully, he looked over to her, "Potter is big star and every girl wants to be with him, that makes it very difficult for the girl who's actually with him. All girls go 'oh, look at her, she doesn't deserve him' or 'That girl ugly, I should be with Harry Potter.' I would be with guy who doesn't get so much attention." Both Hermione and Ron looked at her strangely, "What? Was my English wrong?"

Ron blushed furiously and looked back down to the ground. This girl was being so nice to him and she was so pretty... he felt as though it was wrong to like her though because she was Hermione's roommate after all. Even though him and Hermione really didn't have a thing, something was underneath the so-called Friendship that they had. 

The three talked about random things for awhile, waiting for Harry to show up in the dorm room. It was clear that he wasn't going to show when it started getting dark outside, so all of them gave up waiting and headed down to the Eatery for dinner. The Eatery was a huge building that was strictly made for feeding the students. It had all kinds of food from all different countries from around the world, the amount of food in the place seemed incomprehensible to Ron. It was his favorite place to go just because of the sheer size of it all. It didn't have anything like Hogwart's did, like the enchanted ceilings or floating candles, but it had to be at least 10 times as big, although the building looked no bigger than any other building on campus. It was like the spell that was on his parent's car, only much bigger in scale. That was always impressive. 

When they got into the huge room all three of them spilt off to get something to it; Hermione went for pasta, Ayumi went straight for the Japanese cuisine, and Ron went to a hamburger stand. He was so hungry he grabbed two burgers among other things, then went and found a place for the three of them to sit. 

"Weasely." Ayumi suddenly stood next to him as if coming from no where, "I found us a spot. We go sit there okay?"

"S-sure." He stuttered out, like he was going to say no to her when her big brown eyes were staring at him so innocently like that. He blushed again and looked down. She smiled and lead the way toward the table where Hermione was already sitting. Her hair was so shiny that he couldn't stop staring at the back of her head. He wanted to reach out and touch it. He resisted, of course, but blushed yet again. At this rate he wasn't going to be able to be anywhere around Ayumi without blushing, he really needed to learn how to control it. 

"You hungry there Ron?" Hermione asked as he sat down, looking at his plate full of food. 

"A little, I missed lunched looking for one of my classes." Ron sighed, "This campus thing is driving me insane."

"Me too." A male voice said behind him, the grin on Hermione's face told Ron who it was instantly.

"Harry!" He exclaimed and turned around, "Where have you been?"

"I spent the last hour trying to find my way back to the dorm rooms. I eventually had to flag down one of those fairy things to help me." He smiled, "Then when I got there, you guys weren't there, so I figured you'd be here."

"Oh! Harry! I have to tell you about Draco." Hermione said, quickly immersing Harry in the same story she had told Ron and Ayumi. 

"Why does she let Malfoy get to her so much?" Ayumi leaned over and murmured so Hermione wouldn't hear. 

"She doesn't, really... usually she's telling us to ignore him." Ron murmured back, "I think she was just thrown off guard and just needs to vent a little."

"Oh, well, that's good to know." Ayumi scooted a little closer to him, "Malfoy has been very nice to me and I don't know how to act since Hermione is my friend. Also, you don't seem to like him..."

"That's an understatement." Ron told her, then sighed, "If you want to be friends with Malfoy then be friends with him, just don't expect any of us to go along with it."

"Well, I saw him the other day and he ask me to go out with him sometime." Ayumi sighed, "I don't know if I want too. He kept asking me if I was pureblood. I don't even know what that means."

Ron looked at her with a confused glance. He assumed that she didn't know because her English was iffy, but he asked her anyway, "How could you not know?"

Ayumi looked up to the ceiling as though trying to find the right words, "It... is not discussed in my culture. It is known, but never discussed."

"Huh?"

Ayumi's nose crinkled as she tried to think of a better way to explain, "You know about a person's ancestry already where I come from, there is no need to ask. I know that Anami Chie's grandfather was a Muggle born wizard and Eto Eiji has no Muggle in him. But it isn't talked about. No one belittles or praises the other verbally, it's all assumed with motions and actions." Ayumi tried to explain, "That's why when Malfoy asked if I was pureblood I didn't know what he meant. I had never heard the term used in a question before. Do you understand?"

"Kind of." Ron told her, making her laugh a little, "What?"

"You got a funny look on your face." She said, "I thought it was cute."

He blushed again and then decided to cease conversation with her. So the rest of dinner was spent listening to Harry talk about his classes or Hermione talk about hers. Ayumi would chime in, but Ron kept mostly quiet. He was having an internal battle with himself. 

After they all finished eating, they began walking back to the dorm room, Ron walked behind the other three slowly. He was still a little embarrassed and a bit guilty, he felt bad for liking Ayumi that way, it didn't seem right. He sighed and shook he head, he was being ridiculous. It was okay for him to like other girls, it's not like his emotions shut off because he liked Hermione. He was just being stupid, so he decided to rejoin the conversation. That's what he did decided, but his feet weren't moving any faster, he just stayed behind them.

"Ron, you okay?" Hermione has slowed down a bit to talk to him. He looked up at her with a slight smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" He asked.

"I don't know. How about you trailing behind everyone like something is the matter." Hermione chuckled a bit, "I have a question for you."

"What's that?"

"What do you think of Ayumi and Harry, you know, together." Hermione looked at Ayumi and Harry talking to each other, "They seem to get on well enough and Harry really hasn't had a relationship since...well, for a while."

"I don't know..." Ron shrugged, not letting on that he was jealous, "I think she kind of likes Draco actually."

"Draco!?" Hermione stopped, "Why in the world would she like him?"

"He asked her out or something, I don't know." Ron shrugged.

"Why would he ask her out!?" Hermione asked very loudly.

Ron laughed, "Have you seen her?" Hermione glared at him, "I mean, I have no idea."

"Well, I'll just have to convince her that dating him is a huge mistake." Hermione said with confidence.

Ron sighed, "She doesn't want you to know, if your going to call him a slime ball, do it how you usually do. Don't add 'And you should date him either', okay?"

Hermione looked at him as though what he said were very idiotic, "Like I would ever do that."

"You would." Ron said with a smile, "You just believe no one should be around Draco."

"Yes I do. Do you blame me?" She said simply and they both began to laugh, "Umm.. Where did Harry and Ayumi go?"

Ron looked in front of him and sure enough, Harry and Ayumi were no where to be seen. He didn't even notice that they hadn't started walking again, "Guess they went on without us. You think Harry would have noticed we weren't following."

"Oh well, gives us a chance to be alone." Hermione smiled and blushed a little bit, which in turn made him blush too. That was true, they never got to be alone very much.

"Yeah..." He said and looked down at the pavement.

"Um, I've... been meaning to ask you...something..." Hermione stuttered out, "I was wondering... if... we, that is to say, me and you..."

Ron was afraid of what she was going to say next, but he didn't have time to find out. A girl suddenly burst out of one of the building with a look of pure panic on her face, screaming and waving her arms around wildly. 

"Oh my God!" Hermione exclaimed and ran over to the girl. Ron followed with a little bit more hesitation, he didn't want to get involved really. Unfortunately, he realized a long time ago that him and his friends were magnets for mysteries and secrets. So he stayed up step behind Hermione as she ran up to the girl, who was now in the middle of the quad crying. People were gathering around her but not saying anything so Hermione pushed through them to get the girl, Ron right behind her, "Are you okay!?" She asked.

"S-s-something was..." The girl whimpered, "T-t-hey said that... They said that..."

"What did they say?" Hermione asked, "Did someone make fun of you?"

The girl shook her head, "N-no, they said they w-were going to k-k-kill me!" She bawled as big tears began streaming down her face.

"Kill you?" Hermione said and looked at Ron, who shrugged.

"Were they mad at you?" Ron asked, a little uncomfortable.

"I d-dun know!" The girl wailed, "They said they were taking over... the D-dark L-lord purpose!"

The crowd gasped and it was clear why she looked so frightened. Hermione patted the girl's back and said softly, "Did they try to use...?"

The girl nodded. Everyone knew what she meant too. Avada Kedavra, it must have missed her while she was running away.

"Go get one of the Professors! Now!" Hermione yelled to the crowd, a few people quickly went looking for one of the Professors on the grounds, "Do you know what they looked like?"

"N-no, they were wearing... a h-h-hood." The girl stuttered out. 

"I don't understand, Harry destroyed Voldemort..." Hermione muttered under her breath. Neither if the two had time to dwell on it, because a Professor appeared to help then girl. Neither Ron or Hermione got to ask anymore questions, the Professor quickly took the girl away into some other building. 

Ron looked at Hermione with a paranoid glance. If someone was trying to finish Voldemort's work... did that mean they were in danger again? Even worse, did that mean Hermione wasn't safe? He sighed and looked down to the ground, "I think we had better tell Harry."

"Well, I think it's obvious who it is behind this." Hermione said and started walking toward their dormitory.

"Malfoy?" Ron asked, started to walk with her.

"Exactly! He comes to the school and suddenly there's an attack on a Muggle-born from a Death Eater who seemingly forgot Lord Voldemort wasn't around anymore?" Hermione looked at him, "His dad probably put him up to it. It was probably the back up plan all along."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. It did seem that Malfoy was behind all this, after all, it was Malfoy, "I still think we need to tell Harry."

"And make sure that Ayumi stay's very much away from him," Hermione said, "We don't need for her to end up dead."

By Hermione's tone Ron could tell this was very serious... and that made him very worried....

  


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A/N: Hmm... Is Draco causing all the trouble? That seems like to easy an answer, although I may just be tricking you. Anyway, next chapter Harry or Hermione... I haven't decided. I'm doing a lot of Hermione's, but she is my favorite character... so just to even it out it will probably be Harry. 

BTW, anyone like Ayumi? I like her. I picked her to be from Japan because it was REALLY foreign and I did some research on Japanese customs a while back so I kind of know what I'm talking about. Plus in Japan, they would do things differently than the Western world and I get to make all that up! ^_^


	5. It's Times Like These

A/N: Harry is back for this one. Everyone thing is back to normal for a chapter. ^_^. I'm liking this story a lot actually, I've even made Wallpapers for my computer for it. I like playing in paint shop pro though so it's not too weird... is it? Also, a soundtrack is starting to build in my head. I'm listening to certain songs that fit to get in the right state of mind. Weird, I know.

Well, enough with my rambling, on with the story!

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Chapter 5: It's times like these... (Harry)

Since the attack on the girl only nights before, it seemed everyone on campus was a bit more jumpy. The school was having an assembly about it later that night, but honestly Harry wasn't looking forward to it. It wasn't something he wanted to relive again, he was hoping that those days were behind him. Apparently, some people didn't want to let go of the fact that Voldemort was finally defeated. Ron and Hermione had given him all of the details about what happened, but honestly he didn't want to hear about it. It would just be easier for him to live in ignorance and he would have too, if it weren't for one thing. Hermione.

Hermione was always picked on for being muggle born in Hogwart's, mostly by Malfoy and all of his cronies. Still, she never seemed to let it get to her, even when she knew her own life was in danger. It was because of that, the fact she didn't seem to care, that Harry took on the role of protector. If she was going to pretend that she was above it all, he was always going to be there to make sure she didn't get hurt. He had to make sure she was going to be okay in the end, after all, she was more than just a friend, she was family. That's how he felt about it anyway, she might as well be his sister, she was closer to him then any sister could ever be. It was that reason alone he was going to the assembly later that night. 

He didn't think it would take very long for them to figure out who the culprit was, after all, Malfoy was going to their school. It all seemed so convenient, like it had all been planned. Malfoy was supposed to take over the Dark Lord's work and kill all of the "mudbloods" he had hated so bad. He probably wanted to start with Hermione, he seemed to hate her the most and, even though they were all adults, he still picked on her just as he had when they were younger. He hadn't changed at all, there was no reason for Harry to believe that he was innocent. Of course, Harry hadn't seen him on campus as of it, which was good, but he was sure it was only a matter of time before the two met face to face. What he would do when that happened he didn't know, he could only hope he didn't end up punching the guy in the face.

"Mr. Potter," A voice snapped him out of his daze. He looked up to see his Magical Mysteries teacher, Professor Hawking, staring at him with an evil eye, "Could you please snap out of your daze and pay attention to my class?"

Harry jolted up in his seat and students around him began to giggle, "Yes, sir." Honestly, Harry held no interest in Magical Mysteries, however it was one of the required classes to take for a 1st year who wanted to become an Auror. Once all of the required classes were out of the way, he could take the test and hopefully begin his training as quickly as the end of 2nd year. Professor McGonagall had helped get him into the right school that had all of the mandatory classes, so he at least had to try and pass them. Though, it was times like these he wished that Hermione wanted to become an Auror as well. He tried his hardest to pay attention from them until the end of class, which proved very hard to do indeed. He just kept reminding himself it was his last class of the day, which helped him focus a little better.

Finally, the class ended and Harry was free to go to the dormitory. It was the only day out of the week he got out of classes earlier than the rest of his friends, so he had a lot of time to kill before he could meet up with any of them. So he walked the long path back to the Pheowin Dormitories, which was rather far away from where he was. He then reminded himself to bring his broom next time he had that class so that he wouldn't have to walk as far. He enjoyed it though, it wasn't to cold outside that day, which was nice, and people had stopped starting at him ever since the attack on the girl. It gave him some time to just enjoy being alone, which was rare, so he decided to stop walking all together and sit on the stone bench that was only a few yards from him. It was nice, just sitting there watching the people go by. He noticed there were a lot of couples, everyone seemed to be holding hands or kissing. That made him a bit uncomfortable, considering he was never one to keep a girlfriend. Every relationship he had been in, or almost been in, seemed inevitably doomed to either end abruptly or never start in the first place. It kind of made him a little lonely. He had his friends, but he kind of always wished for something more. 

"Harry Potter?" A female voice called to him from a crowd of people. He turned and saw a pretty blonde looking at him with a slight smile.

"Yeah?" 

"Hi, I'm sorry for bothering you." The girl sat down on the bench next to Harry, "but you left your book in class today," She began to dig in her bag, "I know I put it in here somewhere."

"Oh..." He sighed out of relief, he had thought she wanted an autograph or something, "Who're you?"

She smiled and looked up at him, "Oh, I'm sorry. Silly me, you probably haven't noticed me since I sit in the back. I'm Aimee Todd, I'm a Mr. Hawking's P.A."

"A what?"

"A P.A. When you want to be a Professor part of the program is studying under a teacher." She explained, "It's means Professor's Assistant."

"They let you do that your first year here?" He asked her in confusion.

She laughed and continued to dig in here bag, "I'm a third year actually." She then pulled out the book he had forgotten and handed it back to him, "I figured you would want it back... you would be lost in Professor Hawking's class without it. He doesn't like to deter from the reading much."

"Yeah, he's kind of dull." Harry smiled and looked over to her, inadvertently looking into her pretty green eyes. He blushed a bit and looked down at his feet.

"Kind of dull?" She laughed, "I didn't want him, but all of the other P.A.'s took all of the... more entertaining... Professors. So I get to hear him read from the book about 3 times a day."

Harry laughed, "Sounds... fun..."

"It's okay. The good thing is he's very understanding. He's working with me so I can be on the Quidditch team and be his assistant."

"You're on the Quidditch team?" He asked her with interest.

"I will be, I transferred here from Afinia University, I was on the team there so they asked me to be on the School Team here." She smiled, "You play?"

"I was on the team at Hogwart's." He told her proudly.

"Really? Famous Harry Potter on a Quidditch team." she shrugged, "You should try out for your Dorm team. If your good enough you can get drafted into the School team.. Though you could always try out for it if you wanted."

"Nah, I don't think I'm that good." He smiled, "I'll probably try out for my dorm team though."

"That's cool. I can give you some pointers sometime... if you want me too." She batted her eyelashes a bit, making him wonder if she was hitting on him.

"I...uh... sure, I suppose." He looked away from her, making her laugh.

"You're blushing. That's cute." She stood up and threw her bag behind her shoulder, "I should go, I was supposed to meet my friend ten minutes ago. I'll see you in class, okay?"

As she walked away he resisted te urge not to stare at her. That was a bit uncomfortable, he had never known girl's to be that forward before. Still, it was nice and he couldn't help but smile. In fact, as he walked back to the dormitory, he had much more bounce in his step then usual.

  


*******

  


"We are looking into the strange attack on the second year now." Headmaster Pomple told the students who decided to attend the meeting, "It seems it was most likely a practical joker who thought it was funny to scare some of us into thinking He-who-must-not-be-named has returned. We are looking for the culprits and are confident that we will find them. Until then I advise all of you just take this with a grain of salt. However, do to the seriousness of this prank, I suggest all of you be careful and keep an eye out for strange behavior."

"Think that's all it was?" Hermione leaned over and whispered to Harry, "A prank?"

"It has to be, what else would it be?" Harry whispered back, "Avada Kedavra would have killed the girl if it wasn't."

"It could have missed her." Ayumi whispered from the other side of him, making Ron look over at the three of them.

"I think Harry's right." He said, joining in on the conversation, "No one would go around saying they are continuing You-Know-Who's work seriously. Especially not so soon after he was defeated."

"Is that what you believe Ron," Hermione shot a glance to him, "or are you just hoping that's the case?"

"I'm hoping that's the case..." Ron whined a little and sat back with a worried look on his face.

"I think we need to just be a little more cautious and maybe have a look around a bit," Hermione mumbled, "See what Malfoy is really doing here."

"Maybe he's really going to school." Harry shrugged. Even though he suspected Malfoy of being the culprit, he couldn't rule out the fact that maybe he was actually innocent. As awful as that was for him to admit.

"It just seems to convenient."Hermione told him, "Think about it. We all know that he was a Death Eater... and now all this is happening."

"We can't prove anything." Harry pointed out. He thought that would shut Hermione up about it, but instead she just smiled and looked at Ayumi.

"Maybe someone," She shook her head in Ayumi's direction, "Could get him to confess... someone" - she did it again - "Who we know Malfoy is attracted too."

Harry looked over to her, "I thought you didn't want her anywhere near him?"

"Well, this is an emergency." Hermione looked over at Harry. She knew that he was going to protest. The words were leaving a taste in his mouth when she gave him a slight smile, "AND if he doesn't say anything, it could also prove him innocent and I'll stop bothering you about it. Does that make you feel better Harry?"

He swallowed, she knew exactly what he was going to say, "Uhhh..." He looked over at Ayumi, who looked a bit confused about the whole conversation, "What about Ayumi? Does she want to do it?"

"Do I want to do what?" She asked, "Talk to Malfoy? I already do that..."

"No, go on a date with him and see what you can find out." Hermione told her. Harry noticed Ron jump out of his seat a little bit. It seemed his friend didn't like this little plan. 

"What?" Ron said a little loudly, making some people look over to them, "I don't like that idea at all."

"Well, it's not up to you Ron." Hermione glared at him, then looked right back to Ayumi, "Do you think you can do it?"

Ayumi sighed, "I will have to think about it."

Hermione seemed to take that as a yes because she squealed a little and sat back in her chair. Harry knew that little plan of Hermione's could be dangerous is Malfoy really was the person behind it. Especially if he found out Ayumi was spying on him for Hermione. Malfoy may not be the one behind all this, but he was still Malfoy... and he wasn't someone who anyone should take lightly. 

The meeting finally ended after all the Professors claimed that they would back sure the school remained safe and that classes would continue without disruption. Everyone filed out of the auditorium and back outside, where the loud chatter of people talking about the meeting echoed off the walls of the old buildings. Harry looked around, but it seemed that he had lost his friends on the way out, so he waited by the door until he saw them again.

"Hey, it's you..." A friendly voice said behind him, making him turn around. The girl from that afternoon was standing there with a smile on her pretty face.

"And it's you." Harry said, "Aimee, isn't it?"

"You remembered my name," She giggled a bit, "That must means I'm pretty special."

"Uh...." He didn't know what to say to that. He just froze and looked at her dumbfounded. Luckily, she wasn't completely turned off by that, in fact, she began to laugh.

"You're funny." She told him and put her hand on his shoulder, "Umm... you know, I was wondering if maybe you would like to--" 

"Harry!" Hermione's voice cut through the echoing voice like a knife and Harry cringed a bit. He was about to be asked out by a girl and Hermione had to come at the absolute worst time. He forced a smile and turned to look at her.

"Hermione..." He replied through gritted teeth. 

"We must have lost you on our way... who's this?" Hermione gave a small glance to the blonde girl to her right.

"This is Aimee." Harry said a little embarrassed and a whole lot uncomfortable. Hermione always had a "Protect Harry from getting hurt" Complex ever since their fifth year at Hogwart's and it annoyed Harry to no end. She had the best intentions, but most of the time he wanted to throttle her.

"Aimee, huh?" Hermione sighed a little and smiled, "I'm Hermione. Harry's best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend Harry?" Ron came up from behind with Ayumi. He then looked over at Aimee and realized what Hermione was doing, "Hello." he said to Aimee politely, then gave a quick glance to Hermione.

"Hi." She smiled at Ron, "So these are your friends Harry? I'm Aimee, I'm in a class with him."

"Aren't you a little old to be in a class with him?" Hermione questioned in a flat tone.

Aimee looked at her, a little taken aback, and laughed, "Oh! I'm a P.A., I'm working with Professor Hawking until I get my degree in Teaching. Harry's in Harking's class."

That answer seemed to satisfy Hermione's curiosity because she just pursed her lips together and didn't respond.

"It's nice to meet you Aimee." Ron said, "I'm Ron and this over here is Ayumi." Ayumi bowed a little. That whole bowing thing was a little hard to get used to, she did it a lot unintentionally and Harry had a hard time trying not to laugh. 

"Well, I should probably go, my friends are waiting for me..." Aimee sighed a little and began to back away from the group, "I'll... talk to you later Harry, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry watched her as she walked away with a bit of disappointment on his face. She was going to ask him out and Hermione had to butt her way in. He didn't get mad at her though, it was fruitless to get mad at her, she always used some kind of logic that got her out of it. Instead he just looked at her and put on a fake smile.

"Well," She sighed, "We should go back to the dorm. It's getting late and it's probably not a good idea to be out in the dark right now."

"Afraid of the dark, eh Granger?" Malfoy was walking up to them with a smirk on his face. It was almost surreal seeing him there, like Harry was back at Hogwarts or something. He also noticed Malfoy had picked up more cronies, he had about four people walking right behind him.

Hermione crossed her arms, "Go away, Malfoy."

"I can be wherever I want to." He told her sternly.

"Could you not be here?" Harry asked, making Malfoy look over to him angrily.

"Potter. I've been wondering where you were. I was thinking you ran away once you heard I was here." Malfoy and his cronies laughed. 

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah, because I'm really afraid of you. Why don't you just leave me and my friends alone?"

"I have to get my quality time." Malfoy smiled and looked at Hermione, "It's not as if Granger's going to be around that long anyway."

Ron took a step toward Malfoy, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I thought you were at the meeting Weasely," Malfoy sneered, "They said it was a prank, but we all know differently. People like her," he glanced over to her, then looked back to Ron, "aren't going to be here much longer if they don't wise up."

"Are you threatening me Malfoy?" Hermione glared, "I'm not afraid of the likes of you."

  


"Who said it was me you had to be afraid of?" Malfoy stared right into her eyes for a second with an anger that Harry wasn't really used to seeing, even from him. It made him believe that maybe Malfoy really did have something to do with the attack.

"It's getting late, perhaps we should leave now?" Ayumi broke through the tension with her question, making Malfoy turn to look at her. His face got considerably happier as he seemed to just notice she was there.

"Ayumi, you still haven't answered me you know." He told her, pushing his way past Hermione to get closer to her.

"I am sorry Malfoy, but um... in my country it is customary to think about your answer rather than answer right away." She bowed, "Of course I will go out with you, how about the day after tomorrow?"

"Great." Malfoy smirked and eyed both Harry and Ron, like he was bragging about being able to go out with Ayumi, "I'll see you then, maybe talk to you about reconsidering your choice of friends..."

"Go away before I curse you." Harry said flatly.

Draco looked at him, "Will you Potter? I'd like to see you try."

"Stop it." Hermione looked over to Harry with a serious face, "I a m not going to let you reduce yourself to the like's of him. We're leaving." With that, Hermione took off down the path. She sure was quick to get away from Malfoy now that she was older, when they were at Hogwarts she seemed to love throwing insults back and forth with him. 

Ron followed her quickly and Ayumi wasn't far behind him. Harry shot one last glare to Malfoy before turning on his heels and following Hermione. He supposed she was right, they were adults now, there was no need to act like the children they were before. Still, the urge to tackle to Malfoy to the ground and give him a few good punches in the face was there.

"You're really going to go out with him Ayumi?" Ron asked once they were a good distance away.

Ayumi nodded, "I'm going to help Hermione. He was scaring me."

"So that whole bit about your culture was a lie?" Ron smiled.

"Yes, I had to say something as to why I had not answered him yet," Ayumi shrugged a bit, "I was never going to answer him honestly."

"I'm glad you want to help me Ayumi," Hermione told her, "The way he was acting today wasn't exactly... the mannerisms of an innocent person."

Harry sighed, "I'm going to have to agree. He seemed like he at least knew something. Still, putting Ayumi in that position is dangerous."

"I will be fine." Ayumi told them.

"I'll be watching her the entire time." Hermione told them a matter-of-factly, "I'll just be a safe distance away so he doesn't see me. If anything goes wrong, I'll help her."

Harry still didn't like the idea, but Hermione was defiant, "Okay, just be careful when you two go."

"Of course we will, we aren't... That's strange, where did all this fog come from?" Hermione stopped walking and turned around toward them. Harry slowed down and began to look around, but it was getting harder and harder to see anything at all. In about five minutes the couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. 

"Hermione? Ron? Ayumi?" He called, "Where did you guys go?"

"I'm here." Ron said.

"Me too." He heard Ayumi say. He waited for Hermione, but she never answered.

"Where's Hermione?" He asked his two other friends.

"You don't think....?" Ron yelped a bit. 

"We need to find her before it's too late." Harry told them and began to walk. What if Malfoy had gotten to her already?

"Stop panicking Harry, I'm right here." Hermione suddenly spoke up, her voice sounding a distance away.

"Why didn't you answer me!?" Harry yelled to her. He could feel her rolling her eyes at him.

"I was looking at something, I saw something flash before I couldn't see anymore so I began to follow it." She sighed, "I lost it though... what do you think is going on?"

"The weather changed?" Ron squeaked out. 

"Yeah, like it's ever that simple." Harry told him, chuckling a little, "Hermione, I'm coming to you, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be wandering around by yourself right now."

"I'm fine, it's too foggy for anyone too - OW!" Hermione screeched, "What the...?"

"What!?" Ron yelled over to her in a panicked voice.

"Nothing, something bit me... I think..." Hermione grumbled. Seconds after Hermione said that, the fog began to clear up and Harry quickly ran over to where she was.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Harry asked her and began to examine her.

"I'm fine, something bit me in my arm, that's all." She rubbed her right arm a bit.

"Hermione!" Ron ran up to her with Ayumi right behind him.

"I'm fine, Ron." Hermione sighed and pulled up her sleeve, See, nothing more than a..."

Everyone gasped, on her arm was a branded "M", small but big enough to see.

"What is that?" Harry asked her, she shrugged.

"I don't know..."

"Um... everyone..." Ayumi suddenly pipped in, "Look over there."

Harry turned in the direction that Ayumi was pointing and looked up to the sky. Among the stars were glowing green words, sinister and evil, that said, "The Mudblood's are marked."

"I don't think this is a prank anymore." Ron squeaked out.

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione, "No, who ever is doing this is very serious." 

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A/N: First of all thanks to everyone who took the time to review my little story. That was nice and you didn't have to do that ^_^ I would also like to thank those who have actually read it and enjoyed it. 


	6. Revelations

A/N : Chapter Six is here!!!! YAY!!! This is a pretty good chapter, Hermione's intuition really kicks in on this one. I just feel sorry for Ayumi, being Hermione's guinea pig and all. Book 5 Spoilers start here, so if you haven't read the book stop here and come back when you have. ^_^ I'll be waiting, no rush. Anyway, on with the story!!!

  


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Chapter 6: Revelations (Hermione)

  


The mark wouldn't go away. She tried using a spell, taking a shower, scrubbing it till it turned bright red, but nothing worked. Not even the school nurse could do anything. Hundreds of people came filing into her office the next day, but she wasn't able to help any of them. The school was still treating it as a really well played prank. Hermione on the other hand, was sure this was the doing of Draco Malfoy. It screamed of something he would do. That's why she was excited about the date him and Ayumi were having that afternoon.

They already had it planned, now they were just making sure that everything would run smoothly. Hermione had enchanted some things to make it easier for her to listen and they were running through how Hermione would be able to stay behind them without Malfoy noticing.

"Now don't worry, I'm going to be able to hear everything that you two say, even though I'll be pretty far away," Hermione explained to Ayumi, who was changing in the closet, "I enchanted the hair pin on the desk. You put it on and I'll be able to keep track of you."

"Okay!" Ayumi yelled from inside the closet, "Do you think I should wear yellow or red?"

"Red. The darker, the better. Bright colors may scare Malfoy away." Hermione joked, "I'll try to stay around your without him seeing me, you know just incase..."

"That's good." Ayumi came out wearing a knee-length Chinese style dress in a deep crimson with a golden dragon pattern throughout. She looked as though she was going to a ball instead of just going to Hogsmead.

"Wow, don't you think you're a little dressed up?" Hermione asked her.

"No, I think Malfoy would prefer me to look my best." Ayumi walked over to the desk and put the pin in her hair, "Do you think this plan will work"

"As long as you lean the conversation in the right direction we will most likely get some information." Hermione sighed, "I just hope we can catch him before he actually hurts someone."

"Yes, and with the marks, it will be much easier for him." Ayumi looked over to Hermione and sighed loudly, "Are you sure he's behind all of this?"

"You don't think so?"

"I don't know. I know he doesn't like you, but he has always been nice to me," She shrugged, "and I can't help but think there is something that he isn't saying."

"Maybe he's just trying to manipulate you." Hermione grumbled under her breath.

Ayumi smiled, "I know you have a bad history with him, but I do not. Maybe you need to have an open mind."

"Maybe you need to have a closed one." Hermione snapped, "He's dangerous, the quicker we prove that, the better."

"I don't know Oni, I think there is something underneath all that anger... I would like to make up my own mind about him." Ayumi smiled again, "And I still think you should be a little more open minded."

"Yeah," Hermione looked down at her watch, "We should go, he's going to meet you there in an hour."

They walked down to the train station practically in silence. Ayumi was trying to start up conversations with Hermione, but she didn't feel much like talking right then. What Ayumi had said weighed heavily on her mind and forced all the old memories into her head. She was trying hard to control her anger, but it was hard not to get angry when she said to have an open mind. An open mind? About Malfoy? The idea was absolutely absurd. It wasn't like he would ever have an open mind about her. After all she was just a Mudblood to him, as he had told her many times before. He was harsh and cruel, how could she ever think he was decent? It made her so angry just to think about it, but she didn't want to lash out at Ayumi, it wasn't her fault for not knowing about the past. She didn't know that Malfoy, all she knew was this "new" Malfoy, the seemingly nice Malfoy. The one who was proven innocent of all charges as a Death Eater and got to come to school with everyone else. The one whose father was forcing him to be the way he was, and act the way he acted, because he was working for the Dark Lord. The one who was venerable and just needed a hug.

Hermione knew the truth though. He couldn't hide it from her. He wasn't an abused child who was a product of his environment, he reveled in the act of torturing those he deemed unworthy. He manipulated everyone around him in his web of lies and deceit, trying to make himself out to be the good guy. That was the Malfoy she knew, and that Malfoy was trying to manipulate Ayumi into thinking he was the victim in all of this. He just wanted her to be his friend on the inside, someone who could be his eyes and ears and watch whatever Harry was doing. He knew Harry and the rest of them would suspect something as soon as the attacks started and he would need someone to defend him to them. Why not someone whom they considered a friend? She knew that was the only reason he was even talking to Ayumi.

The whole thought process made Hermione so eager to get started she continually ran over the plan with her friend over and over again. When they got to Hogsmead, they quickly went to the designated spot and Hermione quickly walked a few hundred feet away from Ayumi, making sure she could still see her but Draco wouldn't spot her once they actually met. Ayumi stood there for what seemed like hours (It was actually only about 15 minutes) before Malfoy decided to show up, five minutes late. 

"Ayumi!" He yelled to her, overly cheerful. Hermione watched as Malfoy, dressed head to toe in black, ran up to Ayumi with a smirk on his face.

"Malfoy-san!" Ayumi replied with the same amount of cheerfulness. It almost sounded phony, but Malfoy didn't seem to notice.

"Are you hungry?" He asked her, "Do you want to eat first?"

"Uh... we should walk around a little bit first." Ayumi struggled out, "Get to know each other a little better."

"If you want to." Malfoy shrugged and the two of them began walking. Hermione stayed within eye distance as they walked down every street. At first they weren't really talking about anything useful, mostly what classes they were taking and Ayumi's life back in Japan. It seemed like they were never going to talk about anything Hermione could use, it was getting frustrating, not to mention boring.

"So then I decided to come to Widdlewall," Malfoy said, finishing up another one of his droll stories, "My dad said it was the best after all."

Ayumi seemed to perk up a little bit, "Your dad? Isn't he in Azkaban?"

Malfoy's walking pace got slower, "Yes, you heard about that all the way in Japan, eh?"

"Voldemort was a name known very well in Japan. He wasn't a threat there yet, but the Asian Ministry was very worried." 

"Well, they should have been." He scoffed. Hermione couldn't tell if he was bragging or being fearful though.

"Your father was a...." Ayumi stopped and sighed, "One of his followers."

"Yeah."

"Were you?"

Malfoy actually stopped walking at that point, "I should say I wasn't, after all the Ministry cleared me of all charges."

"So you weren't?" Ayumi questioned, "Because Oni said–"

"Who's Oni?"

Ayumi laughed, "Oni is my roommate! Granger-san. Her name is too hard for me to pronounce, so I call her Oni."

"Granger said I was a Death Eater?" Malfoy smirked a bit, "She would say that. That Mudblood wouldn't believe me if I said I had a stick in my hand then showed it to her."

Hermione would have been insulted, if it wasn't so true. 

"Well, from what I hear you weren't very nice to her..." Ayumi mumbled.

"She deserved everything she got. Always walking around Hogwart's like she owned the place just because she read a few more books then everyone else." Malfoy sneered, "What did she expect? That everyone was going to bow down at her feet? She was as bad as that Potter, maybe worse."

"Oh... well, you know, she says you're the one behind all of this stuff on campus." Ayumi baited him. Hermione laughed, she was using his hatred for her as a way to make him confess. He would slip if he was mad, and she was one of the things that made him very angry. 

"She does, does she? She would..." Malfoy said through gritted teeth, "If I was behind it, I would have gone after her instead of some random Mudblood."

Hermione had to admit that was true. It was strange that he didn't come for her first. Of course, that would have made it obvious as to who was behind it all. She waited for Ayumi to say something, but she just sighed and turned away from him.

"You believe her don't you?" He asked Ayumi. 

"I don't know. I don't have a history with you so I can't pass judgment as easily as Oni does." 

"History..." Malfoy laughed, "I've been at war with those three since I met them. All of them think they're better than everyone else, don't have any regard for status and order."

"Status?" Ayumi asked, "Your status?"

"I'm supposed to be better than they are," Malfoy began to pick up his pace a little bit, "My father had more status then the Weasley's and the Potter's. And Granger... she's not even a blip on the radar screen. Of course, my dad did blow it all by getting involved with Voldemort again."

The way that Malfoy spat out the name "Voldemort" struck a nerve with Hermione. There was no respect in his tone, only a vile hatred that she could feel all the way from where she was hiding. It actually shocked her, it was like he resented Voldemort instead of being one of his followers. His tone of voice seemed too real for hom to be lying about it. She wanted to see if Ayumi could get more information out of him but it was clear he didn't want to talk about it any longer. So instead the two quickly changed the subject and didn't go back to it the rest of the afternoon. He did, however, seem to like talking about Ron, Harry, and herself. In fact that was pretty much all he talked about unless he was bragging about all of his accomplishments. It began very boring very quickly, and Hermione found herself not wanting to follow them any longer. She would have to let Ayumi know the next time she was alone that she was free to end the "date."

The thought of what Malfoy said about Voldemort stayed on her mind the entire time. Every time she thought about it, the less she thought that he was lying. There was a resonating truth in that sentence that made a bell fo off in her head. It wasn't the bell she thought it was going to be either. It was a bell telling her that he was innocent.

"Oni!?" Ayumi suddenly appeared next to Hermione by the wall where she was hiding.

"Ayumi! What are you doing!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"I came to see you while Malfoy is talking to some friends." Ayumi explained and looked at her frantically, "I just wanted to say I don't think he is guilty and here's why, see--"

"I don't think he's guilty either." Hermione said quickly, making Ayumi stop talking, her mouth still hanging open. Hermione laughed, "Shocked?" – Ayumi nodded her head – "I am too. I'll explain why once we get back to the college."

"Well, if you think he's innocent," Ayumi looked at the ground, "can you please get me out of this? He's a bit boring."

Hermione laughed even harder, "I think I can do that. I'll just act mad at you for going with him, okay?"

"Okay." Ayumi smiled and then grabbed Hermione's arm, pulling her out of her hiding space, "Let's go!"

The two girls walked to the middle of the brick lined street and waited for Malfoy to notice Ayumi wasn't by his side. When he finally did, Hermione put on her mad face.

"What are you doing here!?" She yelled a little too loudly. As soon as she did, Malfoy quickly decided to make his way over there. She laughed in her head, that boy would give up everything just to make her life miserable. 

"I..." Ayumi paused, waiting for him to make his way to them, "You knew where I was going to be Oni."

"I told you to stay away from him. He's dangerous." Hermione declared, watching Malfoy closely as he came up behind Ayumi.

"Granger, what are you doing here?" He spat out at her. 

Good question. She had better come up with something fast or he would suspect something. Malfoy was evil, but he wasn't stupid, "I... noticed Ayumi gone when I got back from the library and I wasn't going to let her hang out with the likes of you." That sounded convincing enough. 

"What? I wouldn't hurt her, she doesn't have a mark like you do." He said snidely, "I hear you think I'm behind that mass branding of the Mudbloods."

Hermione looked at Ayumi, trying to have anger in her eyes, "You told him!?"

"I'm sorry! I just don't believe he is behind it." Ayumi shrugged.

"Of course he is, after all, he was a Death Eater." Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically, "If he isn't behind it, then who is?"

Malfoy stepped closer to Hermione in a threatening way, "I think I know more about this then you do. If I were you I would stay out of the way before you get yourself killed."

"Is that a threat Malfoy?" She stepped closer to him, "I'm not afraid of you, you know."

"It's not me you have to be afraid of." He crossed his arms and smirked a bit, "It's dangerous for a Mudblood to get involved in this, if I were you, I would lay low... unless you want to be killed."

"What do you care anyway?" She gave him a cold, hard stare.

"I don't. I'm just giving you the facts." He shrugged. They stared at each other for a while then she grabbed Ayumi's arm.

"Come on, we're leaving." She snapped, actually mad now. Ayumi waved a quick goodbye to Malfoy and stumbled a little bit because Hermione was walking so fast.

"See you in class!" He called after her and started laughing. A horrible reminder, she had Herbology class with him tomorrow. 

When they got far enough away, Hermione let go of Ayumi and stopped walking, "He really makes me angry," she said, "He may not be behind it all but he's still a git."

Ayumi laughed a little bit, "It sounded like he was warning you."

"Warning!?" Hermione yelled, "Yeah..."

Ayumi sighed, "I think he is too complicated to ever understand."

"Who would want too?" asked Hermione, then she began to laugh, "Come on, let's go get some ice cream."

  


*******

  


The next day Hermione decided to meet with Harry before going to Monday's classes. Harry seemed to be just as interested in finding out who was behind it all as she was, so he was obviously the first person she was going to go to. Truth be told, she would have rather gon to Ron about all of this, but he was so paranoid and really just wanted to pretend that none of this was happening. With all the history they had with Voldemort and his followers she could kind of understand, but she didn't see why he didn't want to stop the threat. Then there was her roommate. Ayumi knew everything and wanted to help, but she didn't really understand. Not only was she a world away when Voldemort was rising in power again, but she didn't experience the first hand loss like she and the others had. That made it hard for Ayumi to even grasp why Hermione was so worried about this when she had only read about it all in the Japanese version of the Daily Prophet. No, she knew the only person she could expect to understand completely was Harry.

"So you really believe it's not him?" Harry asked her as they walked on the wet grass on that cold, grey morning. 

"Some of the things he said struck a cord." Hermione sighed loudly, "My mind is telling me he has to be behind it all, but my instinct is telling me he's innocent."

"Well, at least you can trust your instinct." Harry grumbled slightly and looked down at the ground. He seemed a little down that morning, and it made her wonder what his problem was.

"My instinct hasn't steered me wrong yet." Hermione told him, "Of course, that means I have no idea who's behind it all. Guess I'm going to just have to question everybody." She laughed, but he didn't.

"I don't like the idea of you getting involved." He said, looking at her with serious eyes, "You've been marked, looking for them is an invitation for them to find you."

Hermione sighed, "Listen, I know you're going to go after whoever is doing this anyway, that's just how you are Harry. So, I'm still high on their target list because I'm friends with you, I might as well try to help you. Besides, I'm not going to let you do it all by yourself."

Harry looked at her, "Do you have to be so stubborn all the time?"

"Do I have to answer that?" laughed Hermione, "Besides, you're one to talk."

Harry laughed, "That's true."

"Still, where do we even start?" She asked him as they walked passed on of the many fountains, "We could look into Malfoy some more, he may know who is behind it all."

"It's probably the best place to start, he probably is pulling the strings and having someone else do all the dirty work," Harry agreed, "which is just as bad as him doing it himself."

"But, he can claim innocence if the plan fails." Hermione shrugged.

"Think that's the case?"

"Don't know, I don't think he's the one doing all this, but it's a good possibility he's influencing it in someway." She sighed, "I just can't wrap my brain around him being completely free of guilt." 

"That's because Malfoy is never innocent." Harry smiled at her, making her chuckle a little bit.

"I'm sorry. We should probably talk about something else for a change." She shook her head, "You seem a little down, what's the matter?"

"I don't know," Harry shrugged, "I just thought that once... it was over, we wouldn't have to deal with it anymore."

Hermione looked at him with a sympathetic look. He must be feeling guilty that he couldn't stop everyone on Voldemort's side. She knew that even though this had nothing to do with him, he was going to blame himself. After all, he was always the hero, good or bad.

"It's not your fault Harry," she said before he had the chance to say anymore, "You know that, don't you?"

"I keep telling myself that," He shrugged, "I'm just not convincing myself."

"Harry, you saved the world from Voldemort, how is this your fault?" 

"I should have known that some of his followers would want to try to continue his work." Harry sighed and kicked the ground.

"They didn't before, most of them pretended they had nothing to do with him." Hermione explained.

"Most of them, but not all." Harry reminded, "Don't you remember Professor Quirrell or Pettigrew?"

"Yes, but neither of them were killing people." She sighed, "You can't be expected to know what everybody is doing all the time."

"But if I don't do it, who will?" He asked her, "There are people out their counting on me." 

"Who cares about them? You're not Superman."

Harry's eyes flashed with a sudden anger, "You don't understand."

"I don't understand what? That you're responsible for every life that is taken by magic?" Hermione spat, "You're right, I don't understand that."

"I'm not responsible for every life taken by magic," He scoffed, "It's just..."

"Is this about Sirius?" She asked him calmly, but the question only seemed to enrage him more. 

"No." He said bitterly and turned his head away from her. That was a sure sign that he was lying.

"Harry, that wasn't your fault, it's been two years, you need to stop blaming yourself." Hermione was trying to console him, yet everything she said only made him angrier.

"Yeah, whatever..." He sighed, "I have class, I'll see you later."

With that he walked away from her, without even giving her a second glance. She absolutely hated when he got like that, she wanted to run up to him and tell him what a jerk he was being. Instead, she just stood there and watched him walk away from her.

  


*******

  


Throughout her day all she could think about was the little fight she had with Harry. She barely paid any attention in Advanced Alcemetic Chemistry, which annoyed Professor Yullinty to no end since Hermione was usually the one who answered all the questions. Of course, this made the students stop glaring at her for raising her hand first, so she made a note to herself not to answer so many questions in the future. Also, she was pretty much ignoring all of Malfoy's remarks that he made under his breath to her in Herbology class. This seemed to annoy him more than if she actually said something back to him, which was another thing she made sure she would remember in the future. Basically she just tried to concentrate on what the Professor was saying instead of Malfoy or the fight with Harry.

"This plant here," Professor Kelsin pointed to a yellowish plant sitting on her desk, "is called an Armain, It's a potent magical ingredient that can cure almost all poisons once mixed with certain other things. It's a nice thing to keep handy just in case you find yourself poisoned by God Knows What."

Hermione wrote about the plant and it's effects in her notebook. No one seemed to be doing the same, in fact they all seemed to be almost asleep.

"I hope all of you are paying attention." Professor Kelsin glared at the class, "Because in two weeks we have our first trip to Mulsen Mountain. I expect all of you to be able to not only find the plants I ask, but to also make a potion with them."

The class groaned in disdain, and Hermione heard Malfoy mumble something under his breath, which meant she was the only one excited about the prospect of a field 

trip. She was always good at identifying herbs and things, so she knew that she would ace that day. Of course, there wasn't much that she couldn't do when it came to the wizarding world... except get Malfoy to stop bothering her whenever they were in the same vicinity. It made her wonder if there was a spell she could use for that. 

"For the next two weeks we're going to study each of the ingredients that you are going to have to find on Mulsen Mountain. Call this your first big project as it will be a huge percent of your final grade." When Kelsin said that a lot of people suddenly sat up at attention, "I thought that might get all of you to listen. Now, if you'll get in pairs of two I'll pass out the plants."

Hermione quickly asked the girl who always sat next to her, Alison Merriweather, to be her partner, very glad that Professor Kelsin didn't assign partners like she usually did. Maybe it was because Malfoy and her weren't muttering to each other under their breaths. 

"I'm kind of scared about going on this trip to Mulsen." Alison told Hermione as the Professor handed out the strange yellow plants.

"Why?" Hermione turned to look at her with a confused look upon her face.

"Because I hear there are a lot of bad things there, like vampires and werewolves..." Alison shivered a bit, "And things nobody knows the names of. It doesn't sound like a pleasant place to me."

"I'm sure that Professor Kelsin will make sure we aren't in any danger." Hermione reassured Alison and the two quickly got to work on the assignment. She reminded herself to talk to Harry though, hopefully he would still be mad at her.

  


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A/N: So.. Is Hermione right? Is Draco really innocent? He hasn't been the nicest guy ever, why is her gut telling him that he is? Hmmm, and if it's not him... who is it? Also will Harry ever believe that the death of Sirius wasn't his fault (If that's even true, but that is up for debate). It seems to be effecting him two years after the fact.... hmmm... so many questions. So little answers!

  


Haha. Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out my other story called "Hogwarts" Thanks!!!

  
  
  



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